1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to racks and stands for holding clothing accessories, and more particularly to a freestanding upright stand for holding neckties, belts, footwear, and the like.
2. Background Art
It is common to store a person's shoes and clothing items in a closet. Typically, shoes and footwear are stored on the closet floor or on a shelf at the bottom of the closet. Accessory items such as neckties and belts are also stored on short outwardly extending fingers of a small tie rack mounted in the closet or on a closet door.
Often, however, the closets become full and available storage space becomes limited, particularly when more than one person is using them. As the number of pairs of shoes and footwear increases, the amount of space allocated for them decreases. Similarly, the accumulated neckties draped over the short outwardly extending fingers of the tie rack often get stored one draped over or in front of the other, and belts supported thereon often get stored placed one in front of the other. Neckties and belts at the front interfere with removal of ties behind them, and often obstruct the vision so that selections cannot be made without removing a number of neckties and/or belts then replacing all but the one that is selected.
There are several patents directed toward various racks and stands for holding clothing accessories such as neckties, belts, footwear and other articles.
Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,758 discloses a combination wardrobe for storing trousers, shoes, shirts, belts and ties which is rotatable about a base and is adjustable to accommodate different numbers and sizes of shoes.
Frank, U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,216 discloses an attire organizer for storing both men's and women's shoes which includes a base panel, normally resting on a horizontal surface, two side panels joined by a joining panel, and a stack of shelf panels supported by either grooves or studs in the side panels. Support by studs permits selection of the angle of the shelf panels with the horizontal plane. Blocks removably secured on the outside surface of either side panel have an array of pegs. With the blocks oriented in one position, the pegs are used for hanging shoes with high heels; oriented in another position, the pegs are retracted to permit convenient storage of the rack. A tie panel is removably mounted by hinges on an outside surface of a side panel and has a tie bar on an inside surface so that the tie panel may be closed against the side panel to secure the ties when required or the tie panel may be swung back to provide accessibility to the ties.
McNab, U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,073 discloses a utility rack for organizing and storing a variety of clothing and accessory items commonly worn and used by law enforcement personnel. The rack includes several apparel supports and accessory supports, including a shoe-rack, radio support, microphone mount, apparel hook, hat-rack, utility belt hanger, vest hanger, and storage box all carried on an elongated post affixed to a base with adjustable footing for leveling the rack. The apparel supports and accessory supports are disposed at various levels along the height of the post for organizing the clothing and accessory items in a functional arrangement generally related to the manner in which the items are usually donned and removed.
Phillips, U.S. Pat. No. 6,991,118 discloses an accessory holding device for holding a plurality of accessory devices, such as hair clips, bows, barrettes, ties, and other hair accessories; as well as various items of jewelry. Internal attachment members hold clip type devices, while various posts, suspension devices, flexible attachment members, drawers, and retainers are provided to accommodate a wide array of items. The device may be relatively open, formed only with a base and sides, or may be enclosed with top, back, and face plates, in differing embodiments. The device may be freestanding, and may have suction grips to enhance adhesion to various surfaces. It may also be provided with a mounting device so that the entire device may be hung on a wall, back of a door, or other surface. The device may have mirrors on various surfaces and may be fitted with an interior light.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in general, and these patents in particular by a stand for holding and storing clothing accessories, such as neckties, belts and footwear in an easily seen accessible position has an elongate freestanding generally rectangular upright frame, a flat planar horizontal platform or shelf at a lower end thereof for holding and storing shoes and other footwear; a second flat planar platform or shelf disposed at an angle above the lower platform or shelf also for holding and storing shoes and other footwear, a tie rack at a top end of the frame for holding and supporting a plurality of neckties in laterally adjacent relation in a plurality of rows at various heights, and a plurality of hooks mounted on outer facing sides of the frame in parallel spaced relation at various heights for holding and storing a plurality of belts supported thereon by hooking their buckles on the hooks.